Returning to Assisi and the Church of Santo Stefano

It's good to be back in Assisi. My twenty-six hour trip from California went smoothly, with the last two legs being an Alitalia flight from New York's JFK to Rome's Fiumicino Airport, followed by a short flight from Fiumicino to Sant'Egidio, about seven miles from Assisi. Fiumicino can be challenging to navigate, but all went smoothly, as transferring passengers were sent directly to a bus and transported to the local flights terminal. From there, after boarding a propeller plane and waiting behind a line of departing jets, it was a half hour flight before landing at the Sant'Egidio airport, where the runway was empty.

Once settled back in town, I headed down through the Piazza del Comune to a favorite bar/restaurant, poplar among locals, Pizzeria Otello. It's a great place to go after hiking. Also, they consistently accommodate my requests for "molto pane" (lots of bread) to go with orders of lasagna and "vino rosso della casa" (red house wine). Still catching up on sleep.

Assisi is preparing for Easter, just a few days away. Took some pictures on an afternoon walk. One view of town.

Spring is here, but there's snow atop Mount Subasio. A trace of it was visible from the Piazza del Comune, looking past the cupola of the Cathedral of San Rufino.

One need not leave town to undertake uphill climbs.

The columns of the former Temple of Minerva haven't changed much since last year. Or, for that matter, for the past two thousand and forty years or so.

The pastry shops are ready for Easter.

I stopped by the Church of Santo Stefano, built in the year 1166, not many years before the birth of Saint Francis. The facade of this church has changed little over eight centuries; this basically is what Francis would have seen. The church was built by and for the working people of Assisi, plain but (clearly) good construction.

The inside has been carefully remodeled, but retains much of the original materials, design and spirit. In the front below is the baptismal font.

A nice place to sit on a sunny day is the stone wall that winds above Santo Stefano. Legend has it that the evening Saint Francis passed from this life to the next, the bells of Santo Stefano, seen in the center, spontaneously began to ring.

Ciao.